Golden Wings and Emerald Rings
by SarcasticFangirlHorde
Summary: Harry met Gabriel when he was eight, though he knew him by Loki then. Who would have thought the two would get into so much trouble when when the apocalypse hadn't even started yet! Story starts in book 1 of HP and continues forward.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:**

**Hello people! This is my first fanfic so please be kind. Though if you aren't I don't particularly mind, as it means you have an opinion, which means your read my story, which is good. Don't worry this is just the prologue so the other chapters should be longer. I hope this is enjoyable!**

**Disclaimer: None of this is mine. Even my ideas own me more than I own them, and what controlling little things they are, all hoarders too.**

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**Prolouge****:**

Unlike most of his brothers and sisters, Gabriel didn't ignore the prayers sent to him. Well, okay that wasn't true but every once in a while, if he was in the area and in a particularly generous mood, he would answer. Whip up a miracle, smite a dick or two, make a kid's day, the works.

So after a particularly good spree of tricks that ended in a _very _self-entitled hunter being turned into a poodle, Gabriel found himself in a . . . giving mood. Which lead to him stopping by some local church or another looking for a good deed. Now, you must understand it wasn't a exactly a _prayer_ that he was answering, more of a . . . cry for help, but it was close enough and the only other prayer he had at the moment was in America and he didn't feel like opening that can of worms until he was sure the hunter population there thought he was dead for long enough that he wasn't going to be risking his secret by going back. Besides, he was in the mood to do something nice that didn't involve killing or traumatizing or something equally horrible.

So, with a snap of his fingers he was sitting on a bench in front of the church in question, a bag of chocolate chips in hand. The sun was shining overhead, only a few wisps of cloud dotting the sky as a small whale tailed by his posse of slightly buff, adorably unintimidating piglets meandered the streets, calling out taunts to another, as of yet unseen, child.

The ex-archangel stood, shoving a handful of the chocolates into his mouth, and proceeded through the church doors. A quick scan of the building located the origin of the makeshift prayer to be curled up and hiding amongst the pews. It also revealed to Gabriel that is was a child crying out for help, and injured child at that. If there was one thing assured to piss Gabriel off it was those who injured children.

Carefully walking forward, Gabriel knelt down by the child in question. He was small, with ratty black hair and ugly round glasses that had been taped around the middle and stained, worn out, tent sized had me downs. The boy was cradling his right arm and had a black eye as well as scraped and bleeding elbows knees and palms, a quick scan with a little trickster magic showed more of his battered and bruised state. The thing that really caught the ex-archangels attention though was the child's eyes. They were a frightened and wary but stunning deep emerald green.

"Hey kiddo" Gabriel started, his tone light and hopefully reassuring "what's your name?"

The boy looked as though he was contemplating whether or not to answer before he nodded his head decisively.

"My name's Harry." It was said quietly but not timidly, a hint of steel reinforcing the statement as if he expected to be challenged on that fact.

"Well then Harry, my name's Loki who was it that hurt you?" Gabriel smiled at the boy's answer before continuing his questions.

"My cousin Dudley and his friends." The answer was delayed a little but not as much as the last timeand the answer itself was in a softer tone, though it was no less wary.

This made the archangel turned trickster go from really annoyed to pissed. Despite his own experiences on the subject he still strongly believed that family should look after one another.

"What about your parents?" Gabriel's tone was a little gentler this time, an attempt to disguise the anger he had muffled for the child's sake.

"My parents were irresponsible drunks who died in a car crash when I was a baby." Harry muttered as if reciting something he had been told many times before. Gabriel winced, okay so that was the wrong question.

"Who are you staying with? Don't they care that your cousin is bullying you like this?" honestly, Gabriel could make a pretty good guess as to the answer to his second question but it did no one good to jump to conclusions.

"Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia don't care." Harry's voice had a hint of resentment but it seemed as if he had accepted this as normal.

Gabriel thought for a moment "How old are you kiddo?"

"Almost eight"

"Well then" the trickster smirked, snapping his fingers to take them to his newest apartment so he could figure out what to do next.

Nothing happened. He snapped his fingers again, this time putting a little more juice into it. The result was the same, nada. With slight frown he went over likely causes, however the list of things that could prevent his magic from working was a mile long. Time to try something else then. Snapping out his wings, the ex-archangel scooped the kid up. He really was an adorable little tyke, at least for a kid, the way he squeaked at the sudden movement reminded Gabriel almost painfully of some of his littlest siblings.

With a powerful flap they were off! Or not. No, something was definitely keeping him from taking off. The list of things that could keep an archangel, no matter one with his diminished grace and forsaken title, grounded were significantly shorter than the last. The number that fit in both categories he could count on two hands. Two of the above mentioned were out of the running because the only ones who could perform them had left or died out long ago and a third because the spell could only be cast on full lunar eclipses in the spring at very specific locations with materials that even Hecate herself would have to spend centuries locating.

The most likely candidate was a set of location binders set to blood wards, simple enough to cast but very effective. The kid had mentioned something about an aunt and uncle, so it was possible. _Why_ was the problem. Right now though, why didn't really matter. He could find out why later, whatever he chose to do now. Now, it was time for his favorite kind of decision, the impulsive kind!

"You got lucky kiddo, looks like you got yourself a guardian angel . . . of sorts. More like a demi-god really, we're more fun than those winged prudes anyway." Gabriel sat the kid down on one of the pews before he stood up grinning, arms stretched wide as if announcing that Harry had just won the lottery, though he shrugged at the last part.

Harry just blinked up at him, completely uncomprehending of what he was trying to get across. The ex-archangel huffed out a sigh, this was gonna take a while. Luckily for the both of them, he could snap up enough candy to a small country for decades.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I apologize profusely for not getting this in sooner, there were multiple mix ups with my editor and I finally decided to just say **** it and publish what I had. Your reviews . . . I didn't know I as capable of feeling such joy. So thank you so much, all of you. There isn't enough chocolate in the world to thank you enough! So instead of droning on and on, I'll just respond to the reviews.**

**sdevil: Here's the update . . .**

**Guest: I don't know who you are, but thank you so much. The bunny is adorable, I've named him George Fluffykins the eighth.**

**AB Feta: ;D right back at ya!**

**PyruxDeltax: Thanks for the complement, I suppose I just answered the first question . . . lets start at the second then! Of course Gabe is going to Hogwarts! It wouldn't be as much fun if he didn't go. No, Harry won't be getting a new name. At least in this story, he sees his name as the only thing his parents left to him, he doesn't know about his inheritance before he entered the wizarding world. Third question: I suppose, the plan thus far is for Harry to be like his little brother but when – oh, teehee I almost spoiled something! Fouth and fifth questions: Nope! Not in the conventional sense anyway. I have plans for manipulating the Master of Death thing but it won't involve him becoming an angel and the process (as in the process of becoming the Master of Death) will be a bit more involved than it is in the books.**

**jadedquartz: Thank you, I can't wait to see where this story carries me either.**

**bananas r gd: thanks, I will!**

**No bleghse: I know who you are . . . your praise is much appreciated friend, but you will wake up with pudding in your hair one day.**

**Person345: Thank you . . . so much, this means a lot.**

**Yoshishisha: Thankyou! I have, but never really cared enough to stick to a plot for more than a chapter or so, but those were original works not fanfic and I care quite a bit about this story.**

**XxShadowfangxX: Thanks, I try!**

**Alex. : Wow . . . thank you sooooooo much. It means a lot that you think so well of my story, especially when you've only read the prologue.**

**Marion: :D to you too, thank you, I'm glad you like it.**

**Pikachu79: I like it so far too, glad I'm not alone in that; I hope you like this chapter too!**

**Far Away In Wonderland: Oh no, I would never dream of it! That would be so **_**boring**_**. I intend to change a lot, though there are some things that I'm keeping the same. Most of it will be changed enough to at the very least keep it interesting, some things much, much more than that. I don't plan on just rewriting the HP books, I made this so I could tell my own story and that's what I plan to do.**

**RogueNya: Yay! I can't wait to see how this little plot bunny grows up too! That's not to say I don't have a plan, just that I have mild ADHD so that plan is subject to change as certain parts grow boring or I get better ideas.**

**I've got a challenge for you mythology buffs! Try to guess which god Olivander is and . . . I don't really have a prize, so the satisfaction of being right will have to enough.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not even my ideas, they own me, which can be inconvenient when I want to do things they don't want to do (working).**

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Harry and Loki giggled, legs swinging off the tree limb they were sitting on. The prank was about to start. They had started a celebration of Harry's last summer before starting magical schooling, which meant the two had gone on their second largest scale prank spree yet. Since it was a celebration of his entrance into a magical school, they hit schools of all kinds, from preschool to college.

They finished today at Stanford, and were determined to go out with a bang, which they meant literally. Meaning there were exploding piñatas filled with confetti and candy and glitter that hung all over the campus.

There was a resounding boom as the pinatas went off, startling its targets. Harry and Loki laughed hard enough they nearly fell off tree branch as chaos and panic began to spread. The eldest snapped his fingers, transporting them to an unused section of park in Little Whining, Surrey. They collapsed against each other, falling backwards into the patchy grass and weeds chocking through laughter and clutching their sides. When they were able to force the roaring laughter into mild chuckles and giggles, they stood, brushing bits of leaves and grass from their clothes.

"That," Loki said, ruffling his friend's hair "was a fantastic idea kiddo."

"The lion was…" Harry giggled

The trickster puffed out his chest "one of my finer achievements, if I do say so myself. You did pretty good yourself."

They both giggled before Loki adopted a more somber and guilty expression, running a hand through his hair and glancing at his companion.

"It's cool Ki" Harry sighed, seeing the change in his friend's expression "I know you have to go. It's only every ten years and you know Odin will send a retrieval party after you if you don't go."

"Yeah" the ex-archangel whined "but I don't wanna! I'll miss your first official venture into the wizarding world. We don't even know which school is going to invite you yet. It's just a dumb meeting."

Harry gave his friend a Look "how about if I promise not to do anything too fun without you?"

Loki pouted "fine. But be safe and don't do anything I wouldn't do."

They shared evil grins "course not" Harry smirked.

"I'm gonna miss ya kiddo, see you in a few weeks, promise." The Norse god poised his fingers to snap, then smirked and reached out his other hand to ruffle Harry's hair.

"Don't forget the chocolate!" he shouted and with a snap of his fingers the trickster disappeared.

"Drama queen" Harry muttered, trying to tame his hair before stuffing his hands in his pockets and setting off to replace his conjured double at the Dursley's.

It took two days filled with grueling labor and a few well-placed pranks for the first letter to arrive. The amount of letters delivered increased every day exponentially. It ended on Sunday with an explosion of letters that, if Harry hadn't known better, he would have sworn was Loki's fault.

As soon as the avalanche of letters ended the Dursleys split, rushing into Vernon's overpriced silver car with hastily packed bags, nearly forgetting harry in their rush. The four sat in the car for hours cramped and sweaty and miserable and with the constant soundtrack of Dudley's whining. They arrived at a sea shore, a craggy island just peeking from above the constantly shifting horizon. Vernon got out of the car in a huff and rented the place (and a small boat) for the night, seemingly confident the letters wouldn't find them there.

The house on the island seemed one gust of strong wind from falling apart, even though the owner assured them otherwise. Well, it looked like they would get to test out that theory, there was a storm on the way and it looked like a bad one. Vernon practically shoved Harry inside, petunia and Dudley huddling close behind, it was almost nighttime, the sun just dipping into the crashing waves. The adults took the bed (though it could barely be called that) while Dudley curled up on the rickety couch. Thick, warm blankets and pajamas were pulled out for the Dursleys, while Harry was left with a holey and salt-laced blanket that somebody had found in a cupboard and the thin, tent sized clothes he had on to protect him from the cold and the hard, splintery floor to sleep on. Luckily, for once Dudley didn't complain, apparently too tired to do anything but flop down on the couch and snore.

Any other time, Harry would have been upset at his position on the floor, but thanks to Loki, he would probably get the best sleep of all of them combined. When he had started to show signs of accidental magic, the Norse god checked to see if he was magical. The answer had obviously been a obviously yes.

Over the years his friend had taught him how to utilize his core, not with spells exactly, more like using accidental magic on purpose. Confusing right?

It might have taken a while but now he could to quite a lot with a trickle of magic and a few drops of blood. It didn't hurt that a few of the other pagan gods he'd met had given him tricks to use with his not-so-accidental magic in exchange for keeping Loki far, far away from them. One of them had even given his core a boost, though that probably had something to do with the fact that Loki had a vendetta against the guy. Something was mumbled about horses but Harry never got the story to that one, just a pat on the head and a promise to tell him when he was older. Harry thought it was an even and fair trade. It wasn't their fault they never mentioned anything to stop _him _from messing with them, no, wait, it was. Oh well, fun's fun.

So, Harry set about making both his blanket and the floor soft and warm until he felt like he was in a cocoon, then layered a slight glamour over it so it would look the same as before. It used a little more blood than he had thought it would but not enough to start worrying. Normally, since it was the day before his birthday he would stay up with Loki eating as much cake as possible until midnight, when they would celebrate briefly then sleep until the sun was high in the sky. This time, however, Loki was gone and they had celebrated the day before their last prank, so Harry felt content to just curl up and sleep.

Harry awoke as the door crashed open and fell forward, hitting the floor with an even louder boom that eliminated all chances that the other occupants of the house were still asleep. This was proven true as the two adult Dursleys scurried into the room, Vernon holding a shotgun at the massive figure in the doorway. Dudley was frozen in his place on the bed, wide eyed and cowering like an injured mouse from a hungry cat.

"Sorry 'bout that." The figure stepped through the doorway, allowing the occupants of the room to see him more clearly.

He was built like a house with a beard to match and wore a long, heavily pocketed coat. The man bent down and picked up the door, propping it against the door way with a triumphant smile.

"Leave!" Vernon commanded in a voice that betrayed his terror "your kind aren't welcome here!"

The giant man turned to look at Harry's uncle, his expression of confusion quickly tuning into one of annoyance and anger. He clomped forward until he was standing little more than a foot away from the gun, bending it upwards as the cowardly man fired, his uncle whimpering at the display of strength.

"Put this useless thing away, stupid muggle." The last part was muttered but Harry heard it all the same and grinned sadistically at the look of fear in his bully of an uncle's eyes before schooling his face into naïve innocence and confusion with the skill of many years practice.

"Excuse me sir" he started, the stranger turning his way once he began to speak "but what's a muggle?"

The giant man seemed confused but stated "non-magic folk of course."

"Magic? Magic's not real." Harry stated in the same tone, though this time he added a bit of incredulous disbelief as well.

"'course magic's real. You're a wizard Harry." The large man started to riffle through his many pockets as he spoke.

"A-a wizard? I can't be. I mean, wizards aren't real, they can't be. I'm j-just Harry." oh, this was so much more fun than he thought it would be.

"well than 'just Harry' I suppose nothings ever happened, things you couldn't explain when-aha!" he pulled a white box out of his coat and handed it to the boy in front of him "might'a sat on it, so it may be a bit squished but it should taste fine all the same. Made it meself, words and all." He seemed proud of this accomplishment.

Harry opened the box. It was a cake proudly proclaiming "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY" in tan icing. He pinched a small chunk off the edge of the cake, making sure not to disturb the writing and popped it in his mouth, almost moaning at how good it was. Yup, this was a spectacular cake, he'd have to ask for the recipe later. Closing the box and placing the cake on a small side table on one side of the couch he watched as the man pulled out a pink umbrella and lit the stack of logs in the fireplace with a few blasts of flame from the ratty looking object before flopping onto the couch. Harry swore he heard the thing croak in protest.

"Now, as I was sayin, did anythin ever happen that you couldn't explain, prob'ly when you were mad or sad or scared?" Harry allowed an understanding look cross over his face at those words.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Harry asked

"Oh!" the man blushed, which looked odd on a man his size "Sorry 'bout that. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of grounds and keys at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?" Harry asked, his mind drifting from the conversation as he thought about the school, absentmindedly keeping up his façade.

Hogwarts was a good school, maybe not his first choice, but still very good. It had a great campus too, which was always a bonus. He smirked internally at the idea of what chaos he could cause in a castle that old and magical. Plus with the house system . . . he took it back, the potential for chaos made the school _perfect_.

He continued to mostly tune out the conversation, reacting with his predetermined personality. That was, until Dudley decided to steal and stuff his face with _his_ cake. Anybody who knew Harry, or indeed Loki for that matter, knew it was practically a death sentence to mess with his sweets. Harry was milliseconds away from abandoning all pretenses and had posed his fingers to snap when Hagrid pointed his umbrella at the pudgy boy, twitching it and muttering under his breath. Harry watched as the disgusting boy sprout a pig's tail.

Oh that was fantastic! Not that he was satisfied with so small a payback, but it was a start, and a very good one at that. Plus it almost immediately gave Hagrid a seat in his good books, anyone with that awesome sense of humor was alright with him. They shared a laugh as the Dursleys fell into frightened chaos. That little display had also earned the giant man enough respect for the boy to be frank with him.

Which meant the minute the Dursleys left the room for his aunt and uncles "bedroom", he dropped his act. Harry's posture went from nervous and stiff to a confident slouch in less than a second. He slipped one hand into his oversized pockets and the other he lifted and snapped, making sure his index finger was sliced open on his sharp thumbnail which opened a cut barely larger than a paper cut but enough for a small trickle of blood to flow out, changing his rag-like clothes to his favorite pair of worn in jeans and an olive green t-shirt covered in part by a black canvas jacket. Hagrid noticed and raised his eyebrows at the change and the display of magic. Harry just shrugged.

"It's not like they would take well to me being able to do this" he gestured to himself "plus I've been told I resemble a friend of mine a bit too closely."

Hagrid accepted the answer at face value and shrugged.

"Nice one with the pig tail. It looked like a good cake too" Harry pouted at that "you'll have to give me the recipe some time."

Hagrid smiled "mind not telling anyone about that by the way? Technically I'm not supposed to be doin magic."

"'Course not." Harry smirked, whispering, followed closely by a mischievous wink "and, technically, I'm not supposed to have this solid a grasp of magic either but, hey it's not like I'm using it for anything _particularly _malicious so, what the hell."

They smiled at each other, Hagrid letting out a hearty laugh.

"Soooo" Harry began causally, rocking back on his heels "Do we have anywhere to be or…"

Hargrid's head snapped up at that "Oh! We've gottta get going, gettin your school supplies and all."

"You know, I've gotta get a little payback for being treated like a servant by them for all these years, now that I'm going off to school." Harry started causally "what do you think of tie dye maid uniforms and cherry red houses?"

Hagrid let out a bellowing laugh as they started towards London on a boat whose condition could be compared quite accurately to the cabin.

"Yeah" Harry waved a hand "I think cherry red is too cool for them too, maybe glow in the dark neon yellow though . . . or maybe orange or purple?"

"Why not all of 'em?" Hagrid smiled down at the young boy, eyes twinkling with glee.

"I think we'll get along just fine." Harry smirked, plotting all the ways he could make their lives miserable in the month before school started.

It took a few hours for the pair to reach Diagon Alley. They spent the entire time chatting, Hagrid learning more about Harry and Harry learning things about his parents that Loki couldn't, or at least didn't have the knowledge to tell him. As it turns out, he owed Loki a pie now, it was his fault for taking the suckers bet but it looked like they were already trying to get him to be their perfect golden boy. It wasn't Hagrid's fault, Harry doubted the man _could_ do anything like that, however that didn't stop the not so subtle comments about Slytherin and dark magic and the connections between the two. Honestly, they hadn't even gotten to London yet and already, if he hadn't known anything beforehand he would think all Slytherins were evil.

The people in the Leaky Cauldron swarmed him as soon as they heard his name, the great and mighty Harry Potter! He fought to stay calm and appear relaxed as he was crowded, he might be pretty laid back but crowds were not his idea of fun and definitely not something he was used to. Harry felt like kissing Hagrid when the man pulled him out and towards the alley, which he had opened while Harry was occupied with the chattering swarm.

The alley itself was all he had expected and more, purely magical and filled with excitement as new students rushed around, trying to see everything. Harry stared in awe at the entrance until Hagrid began down the cobblestone streets towards what he correctly assumed was Gringots. He had heard stores from Loki about the place, apparently he had messed with them a few times in the past, not one had ended well for him. Anyone who could give the Norse god as good as they got was someone who earned his (and a handful of other pagan gods) respect.

The inside of the bank was decorated sparsely but in a way that denoted wealth, and a lot of it. It seemed like everything was made of marble, though not ornately so, more practical and open. He observed the other tellers as they made their way to the nearest open one. The teller they stopped at was weighing fist sized rubies and honestly seemed a bit bored but still moderately busy. When Hagrid stepped forward as if to interrupt the goblin's work, something he knew from his friend would offend it, Harry took initiative spoke first, not wanting to have his first meeting with the notorious bankers end in disaster. It might have been a risk, revealing even that little of his knowledge on the magical world, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

"Excuse me, sir?" he started politely "are you available for assistance or were we mistaken in that assumption?"

The goblin looked up, obviously having expected the older of the two to speak. With a glance back up from his rubies he answered.

"Yes, I'm open, how can I assist you?" It came out gruffly but not unkindly, as one who was used to dealing with similar beings could tell.

Harry let out a mental sigh of relief, so far so good.

"We're here to get Harry here some wizarding money from the potter vault." Hagird stated, snapping out of his shock.

As the conversation continued, Harry let his eyes wander around the huge hall, keeping a look out for good spots to set up pranks. He covertly sliced the pad of his thumb, letting his magic flow out to scan the area but twisting it just a bit so it would seem more similar to his trickster friend's. A few heads snapped up to stare at him, evil grins stretching their faces, an expression Harry met with a cheeky grin that was all Loki. A few started to cackle and Harry was sure most of the nearby customers were considering fleeing for their lives but luckily Hagrid hadn't even noticed. Oh, how fun it was getting his friend into a prank war with a congregation of one of the most cunning species on the planet.

After more dull chatter, during which Harry spent updating Loki on the situation through prayer, the goblin hopped down from behind his podium of a desk and set off for the entrance to the tunnels and the cart loading station. The goblin put his bony index and middle fingers into his mouth and whistled sharply, calling the nearest cart to them. When they were all loaded in, the cart took off.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Harry shouted as they took another sharp plunging turn which had Hagrid tuning green.

The tunnels were fun, not as fun as turning an animal testing lab into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory or making a corrupt judge unintentionally decide his own fate, but fun all the same. There were twists and turns and gut wrenching drops and sometimes they even saw something really, really cool, like a dragon. The ride was over all too soon, in Harry's opinion, Hagrid most definitely had a different one seeing as he had turned green barely a minute into the ride.

The door to the Potter trust vault towered over all of them, engraved with what was probably once the family crest and motto but was now worn down and rusted over until it was unrecognizable. The goblin stepped forward, twisting the key into a huge and ornate lock in the middle of the doors. It was safe to say that, once the door had creaked inwards enough for Harry to see the inside of the vault, he was stunned to both silence and stillness, not things that were particularly common in his normal demeanor. Gold was piled to the ceiling with silver and bronze each competing for a close second and gemstones of every shape, size and color spread quite liberally throughout.

"Shiny" Harry cackled breathlessly "so shiny"

Hagrid might have been mildly unnerved at the reaction but Harry was pretty sure he saw a flash of amusement from the goblin. However, a second later the half giant pulled out a bag about the size of the average clutch and handed it to him, which gave him something to put his new gold into.

Harry snatched it out of the man's hands and dove in, almost literally. Luckily for him, the bag was spelled to be larger on the inside, effectively giving him enough room to fit nearly half of the lagest pile of gold in the room into it before he was, literally, dragged out. The doors snapped shut as soon as they left. This development had Harry pouting and Hagrid torn between amusement and exasperated annoyance. The goblin didn't have that problem, he was simply amused.

The ride to Hagrid's not-so-secret secret vault was much the same as the one to the Potter trust. Harry screamed in excitement, Hagrid cowered and attempted to keep his puke inside as the goblin tried to hide his amusement at the two. The ride was over sooner this time however and Harry was told to stay in the cart as the other two approached the vault. Harry did as he was told and stayed, watching as the vault opened and . . . nothing? Harry peered around Hagrid's massive frame. Okay so it wasn't nothing, just next to nothing. All that the vault held was a plain grey stone pedestal with a fist sized packaged wrapped loosely in brown paper. Hagrid tucked the package into one of his outside pockets and hobbled back into the cart.

"What's that?" Harry asked, gesturing to the package.

"Womething very special that was trusted to professor Dumbledore, it's a secret." Hagrid answered

Harry huffed petulantly, than carefully sliced the pad of his pinky finger with his thumbnail. The goblin turned back a little, casting a curious glace at the smaller of the two, Harry sent him back a smirk and a shrug. Then he carefully pickpocketed the half giant, assisted mildly by his magic, and switched the object in the package with a garnet of around the same size he had taken with him from his vault. He dropped the object, a stone of some sort, into his money bag and went back to "pouting", hoping the replacement stone was the right color. Harry heard more than saw the goblin snicker quietly, and again when he shouted in unrestrained glee at the next plunge downward.

The ride out of the tunnels was just as exhilarating as the ride in, maybe more since there was the added glee of knowing he got away with stealing some precious magical artifact or another. Hagrid spent the entire time one turn away from hurling and the goblin let out the occasional chuckle at the boy's antics. When they had stopped Hagrid tumbled out of the cart, off towards the entrance of the bank. Harry bowed low to the goblin, thanked him for his service and rushed after the half giant.

"Why, don't you go on and start your shoppin' without me" Hagrid mumbled, still looking green "I gotta rest up a bit, get my legs back 'n steady."

Harry beamed up at him innocently "Of course! I'll be fine, you just rest."

Hagrid nodded, not finding anything wrong with the situation. Now, if he had known the boy in question a bit better, he would have realized his mistake. Being the trusting man he is, however, all Hagrid saw was a little boy excited about exploring a fascinating new world a little more.

"Okay, jus' remember to stay outa nocturne alley." Hagrid nodded and wobbled off to the Leaky Cauldron, leaving a now grinning Harry alone in the street.

As soon as the half giant was out of sight, Harry stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered down the cobblestone street, his chuckles sending chills down the spines of passersby. First stop, the apothecary!

The small shop smelled like the end result of Hecate's last attempt at cooking, it had become quite apparent why she hadn't become the goddess of cooking, but shelves upon shelves of bits and pieces of who knows what made up for that. Harry grabbed a basket, it seemed the wizarding world used wicker baskets instead of the plastic ones muggles used, and set off collecting bits and pieces of things he could use, knowing Loki could find more with a snap of his fingers if needed. The man at the counter was grumbly and old but begrudgingly handed over a double set first year supplies, which earned him a curious glance from a dour man whose hair looked like it had never seen shampoo. Apparently, first years weren't supposed to be smart enough to get extras but Loki had warned him to get double of everything, so he did.

Harry spent a little extra on the wizarding version of a shopping bag, it was made of burlap but was spelled with day-long expansion and feather light charms to make shopping a convenience without selling permanently charmed versions of the items. He earned another glance from greasy-hair-man when he picked up his bags and strolled out, whistling a celtic fiddle tune one of Loki's closest friends, a welsh trickster named Gwydion, was particularly fond of.

The next place Harry stopped at was the store that sold parchment and quills. The selection of pens and inks had him near drooling. Loki had once called him crazy when he discovered his ever so slight obsession with writing utensils. Harry had responded by asking him if he had ever considered a deeper relationship with hypocrisy or if they were just friends. He ended up getting a dozen or so different colored inks and just as many quills, all from different creatures or birds. A manic smile stretched across his face as he exited, drawing a handful of wary looks from the crowd milling up and down the street.

Hmmmmmmm . . . Harry checked his list, mentally checking off what he had already gotten before bouncing off towards Flourish and Blott's. The bookstore was crowded with students from all years, though most appeared to be Ravenclaws, who were browsing the isles. Harry gathered the books he needed, paid, and left in a hurry. It wasn't that he didn't like books, just the opposite actually, there were more than enough occasions where he had to be pulled away from a stack of books as large as himself to prove that to be the truth. No, Harry just knew of Hogwarts' huge library and any book he couldn't find there Loki could get for him, the god usually had whatever book it was in one of his many libraries.

It would probably be smart to get his robes next, however Zonkos and Honeydukes were just across the street . . . there wasn't any real competition in the first place. So, after nearly buying out Honeydukes of its premium chocolate supply he hit up the wizarding joke shop.

Honestly, the joke shop wasn't as magical as he had hoped it to be. That didn't stop some of the products from being awesome but this was a store for prank supplies for crying out loud! It was supposed to be lively. Harry bit back a sigh of disappointment and wondered if they had any prank candy here.

"What's got you so down, mate?" an arm was slung over Harry's shoulders causing him to jump and let out a squeak of surprise.

"Yeah! This is a joke shop, there's no excuse for a frown here." another arm layered over the first, this time from his other side.

Two identical faces peaked forward from behind him, each uttering identical "Hmmmmmm?"s.

"And who might you be?" Harry asked

The two dropped their arms and stepped in front of him, revealing themselves to be a pair of redheaded identical twins.

"Gred and Forge Weasley" the one on the right spoke first.

"At your service." this time it was the one on the left.

"Purveyors of fun and chaos!" this was spoken in unison, along with an overly intricate and deep bow.

Harry felt a smirk creep onto his face, these two seemed like fun.

"Now then little firstie" the right one spoke up first, they seemed to like bouncing back and forth between each other while talking.

"You never answered" left

"Our question" right

"Better fess up" left

"What's got you down?" Both

"I just expected this place to be a little more lively." Harry chirped, happy to have found a pair of kindred spirits.

The overdone frowns on the twin's faces spread into Cheshire grins at those words.

"Well then" left

"We can be of some assistance there" right

"Three! Two! One!" they cried together, throwing their hands up as explosions of confetti and small animated birds made of glitter sprouted from all around the shop, accompanied by groans and swearing from the employees.

The three laughed as kids plastered their faces to the glass outside to watch as product cases were knocked over by employees trying to rid themselves (and the shop) of the exploding glitter birds. There was another round of swearing as one employee found himself now a her and another as the second found that his skin glowed an iridescent purple.

"Brilliant" Harry murmured breathlessly as mothers herded children away from the shop, a few getting hit by the effects of the obviously potion laced glitter in their futile efforts.

The twins grinned at the praise, their arms crept over Harry's shoulders and the two responded with palpable glee.

"You don't seem too bad yourself firstie, never did catch your name though." This was said in their usual ping pong dialogue, though the way they said it blended together seamlessly.

"Harry, Harry Potter, see you at Hogwarts." He ducked away from their arms, letting out a cackle at the dumbfounded expressions and racing off out of the still chaotic store towards the robe shop.

"G-Gred?" the one on the right stuttered.

"Forge, did we just . . ." the one on the left said with confused awe.

"I think so Gred, I think so." Forge responded, still staring at the spot where the boy had disappeared into the crowd.

As it turns out, Harry arrived just in time to see a pompous looking blond and his mini-me stalk out of the robe shop, scowling and looking for all the world like there should be a bond theme playing in the background. Harry suppressed a snicker and continued inside, waiting as on a stool as an older woman and her flying tape measure bustled around him, requesting a few minor alterations to the standard set of robes and waited for those to be finished before loading the robes in his bag and heading out.

Hagrid was just exiting the pet shop when Harry spotted him. Smiling, he dashed up to the giant man.

"Hey Hagrid." Harry chirped as he came to a stop before the man in question

"Heya Harry, I was just commin ta find ya." Hagrid beamed "I got sumthin for ya, a birthday present of sorts." He pulled a cage with a snowy owl, so white she was practically glowing, out from behind his back.

"She's beautiful" Harry breathed, giving Hagrid a face splitting smile of joy "Thank you!"

"It's no problem" Hagrid blushed and rubbed the back of his neck bashfully "'Ave you gotten your wand yet?"

"Nope" Harry chuckled internally at the switch in topic

"Well then, we better be off." Hagrid started forward, Harry following.

The wand shop was old and more than a little dusty but the magic in the place was practically tangible. A flying measuring tape appeared, zooming towards Harry, who caught the struggling thing and turned the direction it had come from to see a ruffled looking old man with a smile that may have been a bit too large for anyone other than Harry, the boy had grown up with Loki after all, to be completely comfortable. Actually, now that he was looking, the old man looked sort of familiar. The man winked at him, tottering over to the shelves upon shelves of wands.

"Harry Potter, I assume. It feels like it was just yesterday I was selling-" the old man started.

"What kind of wand do you have?" Harry asked, interrupting the man. He was almost positive he remembered where he knew him from.

"Mistletoe with a core of unicorn blood, freely given." Was the immediate answer

"Good to see you again, been a couple of years." Harry smiled "How've you been?" the boy remembered hanging out with Loki at the old man's place a year ago, that had been a good week and the man was an old friend of Loki's.

"Ki told you I relinquished my title to some young brat?" Olivander was now leaning against the shelf, looking towards the boy and the two were both grinning unrepentantly while Hagrid was obviously lost.

"Yup" Harry responded, popping the P.

"Best thing I ever did. Now I can run the shop without worrying about having to leave for other duties. Odin never really understood my love of wand crafting anyway, never was the pretty boy he always wanted me to be. Best thing is, none of the ingredients can hurt me like other wandmakers." Olivander turned towards the wands again, hands roaming the shelves but not touching any of the boxes yet "Now let's see about your wand."

The old wandmaker plucked a dozen or so dusty boxes from the shelves before striding over to the desk and setting them down with a clap and a plume of dust.

"Now then" Olivander clapped his hands with obvious glee "let's get started!"

The first batch's results varied from absolutely nothing to a major explosion which, while it had Harry grinning, made Olivander snatch the wand away before he could give it another wave. The second through fifth batches were very much the same and one wand, which Olivander had given to him with the most curious expression, had the old man muttering about curiosities. Harry had been able to piece together that the wand accepted him, but that his magic rejected it.

It took eight more loads of wands, nearly triple that many explosions, two minor earthquakes and a small flood before Olivander took a trip to the back. A little over ten minutes later the old man skipped back up to the desk back looking triumphant with a single box in his hands. The wand itself was carved of a dark wood to look like the layered braches of an ancient oak in midsummer and gave off an aura, he wasn't sure what of but there was a definite energy surrounding the elegant piece of wood.

Harry found he was reaching for it without even noticing, when he did notice the movement he completed it, snatching it out if the case and giving it a wave. He laughed in joy as its magic soared through him and back out of the wand, producing a spectrum of green and gold and silvery blue sparks that twisted into a winged serpent before dispersing into the air.

Olivander grinned, he had almost given up on finding this wand's master, this was going to be the last year's worth of new wizards before he sent it off to another of his fellow wandcrafters in hopes that maybe they'd have better luck. Thankfully, it had found its wizard.

"Vine wood, with a core carved of a scale from the world serpent." The old man announced, earning a startled look from Hagrid and a slightly curious one from Harry. The boy chuckled, figures the core would be a scale from one of his best friend's kids, the look on Loki's face would be fantastic.

"Jormungand will be happy to know that this wand has finally found its home." Olivander smiled kindly at Harry. He couldn't think of a better wizard for the wand to bond to than one so close to its contributor's father.


End file.
